Northern Europe 1400-1500
JAN VAN EYCK
- Man in a Red Turban, 1433. Oil on wood, 1' 1 1/8" X 10 ¼" National Gallery London -Man in a Red Turban is the first known Western painted portrait in a thousand years in which the sitter looks directly at the viewer. The inscribed frame suggests it is a self-portrait. -both artists and patrons became interested in the reality (both physical and psychological) portraits could reveal. For various reasons, great patrons embraced the opportunity to have their likenesses painted. They wanted to memorialize themselves in their dynastic lines and to establish their identities, ranks, and stations with images far more concrete than heraldic coats of arms. -"As I can" in Flemish using Greek letters. (One suggestion is this portrait was a demonstration piece intended for prospective clients, who could compare the painting with the painter and judge what he "could do" in terms of recording a faithful likeness. Across the bottom appears the statement (in Latin) "Jan van Eyck made me" and the date. The use of both Greek and Latin suggests the artist's view of himself as a successor to the fabled painters of antiquity. -The painter created the illusion that from whatever angle a viewer observes the face, the eyes return that gaze. Van Eyck, with his considerable observational skill and controlled painting style, injected a heightened sense of specificity into this portrait by including beard stubble, veins in the bloodshot left eye, and weathered, aged skin.
-CLAUS SLUTER (active ca. 1380-1406)
-Portal of the chapel of the Chartreuse de Champmol Dijon, France 1385-1393. - His workshop produced statues of the duke and his wife kneeling before the Virgin and Child. For the clois- ter, Sluter designed a large sculptural fountain located in a well.
Petrus Christus
A Goldsmith in His Shop, 1449. Oil on wood, 3′ 3′′ × 2′ 10′′. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Robert Lehman Collection, 1975). -A Goldsmith in His Shop portrays Saint Eligius (who was initially a master goldsmith before committing his life to God) sitting in his stall, showing an elegantly attired couple a selection of rings. The bride's betrothal girdle lies on the table as a symbol of chastity, and the woman reaches for the ring the goldsmith weighs. The artist's inclusion of a crystal container for Eucharistic wafers (on the lower shelf to the right of Saint Eligius) and the scales (a reference to the last judgment) supports a religious interpretation of this painting and continues the Flemish tradition of imbuing everyday objects with symbolic significance. A halo once encircled the goldsmith's head, seemingly confirming the religious nature of this scene. Scientists have determined, however, that the halo was a later addition by another artist, and restorers have removed it. - Therefore, it seems probable the artist painted A Goldsmith in His Shop, which illustrates an economic transaction and focuses on -Although the couple's presence suggests a marriage portrait, the patrons were probably not the couple portrayed but rather the goldsmiths' guild in Bruges. -
Rogier van der Weyden
Deposition, center panel of a triptych from Notre-Dame hors-les-murs, Louvain, Belgium, ca. 1435. 51 Oil on wood, 7′ 2-8′′ × 8′ 7-8′′. Museo del Prado, Madrid -Instead of creating a deep landscape setting, as van Eyck might have, Rogier compressed the figures and action onto a shallow stage with a golden back wall, imitating the large sculptured shrines so popular in the 15th century, especially in the Holy Roman Empire.The device admirably served his purpose of expressing maximum action within a limited space. -Present are the Virgin and several of her half-sisters, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Saint John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene. The similar poses of Christ and his mother further unify the composition and reflect the belief that Mary suffered the same pain at the crucifixion as her son. Their echoing postures also resemble the shape of a crossbow (the patron guild symbol)
HANS MEMLING
Diptych of Martin van Nieuwenhove, 1487 Oil on wood, each panel 1' 5 3/8" X 1' 1" Memlingmuseum, Bruges -In this diptych the Virgin and Child pay a visit to the home of 23-year-old Martin van Nieuwenhove. A round convex mirror reflects the three figures and unites the two halves of the diptych spatially.
JAN VAN EYCK
Ghent Altarpiece (closed) Saint Bavo Cathedral Ghent, Belgium completed 1432 Oil on wood 11' 6" X 7' 6" -Monumental painted altarpieces were popular in Flemish churches. Artists decorated both the interiors and exteriors of these polyptychs, which often, as here, included donor portraits. -The husband and wife, painted in illusionistically rendered niches, kneel with their hands clasped in prayer. They gaze piously at illusionistic stone sculptures of Ghent's patron saints, Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist -The Annunciation appears on the upper register, with a careful representation of a Flemish town outside the painted window of the center panel. In the uppermost arched panels, van Eyck depicted the Old Testament prophets Zachariah and Micah, along with sibyls, Greco-Roman mythological female prophets whose writings the Christian Church interpreted as prophecies of Christ.
JAN VAN EYCK
Ghent Altarpiece (open) Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, completed 1432.Oil on wood,11′5′′×15′1′′ - The Queen of Heaven, with a crown of 12 stars upon her head. Saint John the Baptist sits to God's left. -Adam and Eve appear in the far panels. The inscriptions in the arches above Mary and Saint John extol the Virgin's virtue and purity and Saint John's greatness as the forerunner of Christ. The inscription above the Lord's head translates as "This is God, all-powerful in his divine majesty; of all the best, by the gentleness of his goodness; the most liberal giver, because of his infinite generosity." The step behind the crown at the Lord's feet bears the inscription, "On his head, life without death. On his brow, youth without age. On his right, joy without sadness. On his left, security without fear." The entire altarpiece amplifies the central theme of salvation. Even though humans, symbolized by Adam and Eve, are sinful, they will be saved because God, in his infinite love, will sacrifice his own son for this purpose. -In the central panel, the community of saints comes from the four corners of the earth through an opulent, flower-spangled landscape. They proceed toward the altar of the lamb and the octagonal (number 8 hence god) fountain of life. -The 12 apostles and a group of martyrs in red robes advance. On the left appear prophets. In the right background come the virgin martyrs, and in the left background the holy confessors approach. On the lower wings, hermits, pilgrims, knights, and judges approach from left and right. They symbolize the four cardinal virtues: Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude, and Justice, respec- tively. The altarpiece celebrates the whole Christian cycle from the fall of man to the redemption, presenting the Church triumphant in heavenly Jerusalem.
JAN VAN EYCK
Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride 1434 Oil on wood 2' 9" X 1' 10 ½" National Gallery, London. - The room is a public reception area, not a bedcham- ber, and it has been suggested that Arnolfini is conferring legal privileges on his wife to conduct business in his absence. In either case, the artist functions as a witness. The self-portrait of van Eyck in the mirror also underscores the painter's self-consciousness as a professional artist whose role deserves to be recorded and remem- bered. (Compare the 12th-century monk Eadwine's self-portrait as "prince of scribes", a very early instance of an artist engaging in "self-promotion.") - Arnolfini holds the hand of his second wife, whose name is not known. According to the traditional interpretation of the painting, van Eyck recorded the couple taking their marriage vows. -almost every object portrayed carries meaning. The cast-aside clogs indicate this event is taking place on holy ground. The little dog symbolizes fidelity (the common canine name Fido originated from the Latin fidere, "to trust"). Behind the pair, the curtains of the marriage bed have been opened. The bedpost's finial (crowning ornament) is a tiny statue of Saint Margaret, patron saint of childbirth. (The bride is not yet pregnant, although the fashionable costume she wears makes her appear so.) From the finial hangs a whisk broom, symbolic of domestic care. The oranges on the chest below the window may refer to fertility. The single candle burning in the left rear holder of the ornate chandelier and the mirror, in which the viewer sees the entire room reflected, symbolize the all-seeing eye of God. The small medallions set into the mirror frame show tiny scenes from the passion of Christ and represent God's promise of salvation for the figures reflected on the mirror's convex surface. Viewers of the period would have been familiar with many of the objects included in the painting because of traditional Flemish customs.
JAN VAN EYCK
Madonna in a Church ca. 1425-1430 Oil on wood 1' 1/4" X 5 ½" Gemäldegalerie, Berlin -Despite its small scale, the panel is remarkable in its detailed recreation of the interior of a Gothic church, warmly lit by sun streaming through clerestory windows. The Virgin herself is reminiscent of sculpted Gothic Madonnas. There are no hints of the miraculous: notwithstanding the realism of the church interior, the Virgin is out of proportion to everything else. She stands as tall as the triforium of the church. -In another supernatural detail, the light enveloping her enter from north facing windows , a miraculous phenomenon in Northern europe. Light both creates form and enriches the content. Jan van Eyck uses oil painting to create images that mimic everyday reality but which transform reality into supernatural events. His "realism" reproduces the world selectively, so that otherworldly figures seem to inhabit human spaces."
JEAN FOUQUET
Melun Diptych. Étienne Chevalier and Saint Stephen, (left wing), Virgin and Child, (right wing) ca. 1450. -The artist portrayed Saint Stephen, whose head also has a portrait like quality, holding the stone of his martyrdom (death by stoning) atop a volume of the holy scriptures, thereby ensuring that viewers properly identify the saint. Fouquet rendered the entire image in meticulous detail and included a highly ornamented architectural setting. -Depicts the Virgin Mary and Christ Child in a most unusual way—with marblelike flesh, surrounded by red and blue cherubs (chubby winged child angels). The juxtaposition of these two images enabled the patron to bear witness to the sacred. The integration of sacred and secular - Agnès Sorel (1421-1450), the mistress of King Charles VII, was Fouquet's model for the Virgin Mary, whose left breast is exposed and who does not look at the viewer. Chevalier commissioned this painting after Sorel's death, probably by poisoning while pregnant with the king's child. Thus, in addition to the religious interpretation of this diptych, there is surely a personal and political narrative here as well.
ROBERT CAMPIN (MASTER OF FLEMALLE)
Merode Altarpiece (open ca. 1425-1428 - The view through the window in the right wing and the depicted accessories, furniture, and utensils confirm the locale as Flanders. However, the objects represented are not merely decorative. They also function as symbols. The book, extinguished candle, and lilies on the table, the copper basin in the corner niche, the towels, fire screen, and bench all symbolize the Virgin's purity and her divine mission. -flemish home -Joseph, apparently unaware of the angel's arrival, has constructed two mouse- traps, symbolic of the theological concept that Christ is bait set in the trap of the world to catch the Devil. The ax, saw, and rod Campin painted in the foreground of Joseph's workshop not only are tools of the carpenter's trade -the closed garden is symbolic of Mary's purity, and the flowers Campin included relate to Mary's virtues, especially humility. -the guy on the left panel with the woman are the patron who paid for the alterpiece
HUGO VAN DER GOES
Portinari Altarpiece (open) from Sant'Egidio, Florence, Italy, ca. 1476. -Hugo painted the trip- tych for Tommaso Portinari, an Italian shipowner and agent for the powerful Medici family of Florence. Portinari appears on the wings of the altarpiece with his family and their patron saints. -The subject of the central panel is Adoration of the Shepherds. On this large sur- face, Hugo displayed a scene of solemn grandeur, muting the high drama of the joyous occasion. The Virgin, Joseph, and the angels seem to brood on the suffering to come rather than to meditate on the miracle of Jesus' birth. Mary kneels, somber and monumental, on a tilted ground, a device the painter used to situate the main actors at the center of the panel. -Symbols surface throughout the altarpiece. Iris and columbine flowers are emblems of the sorrows of the Virgin. The angels represent the 15 joys of Mary. A sheaf of wheat stands for Bethlehem (the "house of bread" in Hebrew), a reference to the Eucharist. The harp of David, emblazoned over the building's portal in the middle distance (just to the right of the Virgin's head), signifies the ancestry of Christ. -penetrating realism to work in a new direction, characterizing human beings according to their social level while showing their common humanity.
MARTIN SCHONGAUER
Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons ca. 1480-1490 Engraving 1' 1/4" X 9" -Schongauer was the most skilled of the early masters of metal engraving. By using a burin to incise lines in a copper plate, he was able to create a marvelous variety of tonal values and textures.
ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN
Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin ca. 1435-1440 Oil, tempera on wood 4' 6 1/8" X 3' 7 5/8" MFA, Boston -Probably commissioned by the painters' guild in Brussels, this painting honors the first Christian artist and the profession of painting. Saint Luke may be a self-portrait of Rogier van der Weyden. -Rogier's Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin, probably painted for the Guild of Saint Luke, the artists' guild in Brussels. The panel depicts the patron saint of painters drawing the Virgin Mary using a silverpoint (a sharp stylus that creates a fine line). The theme paid tribute to the profession of painting in Flanders by drawing attention to the venerable history of the painter's craft and documenting the preparatory work required before the artist could begin painting the figures and setting. Portrait painting was a major source of income for Flemish artists, and Rogier was one of the best. the aim of recording every detail of a scene with loving fidelity to optical appearance, seen here in the rich fabrics, the floor pattern, and the landscape visible through the window. Also, as his older colleagues did, Rogier imbued much of the representation with symbolic significance. At the right, the ox identifies the figure re- cording the Virgin's features as Saint Luke. The carved armrest of the Virgin's bench depicts Adam, Eve, and the serpent, reminding the viewer that Mary is the new Eve and Christ the new Adam who will redeem humanity from original sin.
TILMAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER
The Assumption of the Virgin (center panel of the Creglingen Altarpiece) Herrgottskirche, Creglingen, Germany ca. 1495-1499 Lindenwood 6' 1" wide. - He incorporated intricate Gothic forms, especially in the altarpieces elaborate canopy, but unlike Stoss, he did not paint the figures or the background. By employing an endless and restless line running through the garments of the figures, Riemenschneider succeeded in setting the whole design into fluid motion, and no individual element functions without the rest. -His works feature intricate Gothic tracery and religious figures whose bodies are almost lost within their swirling garments.
HANS MEMLING
Tommaso Portinari ca. 1470 Oil on wood 1' 5 3/8" X 1' 1 3/8" Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
-CLAUS SLUTER (active ca. 1380-1406)
Well of Moses, Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, France, 1395-1406. Limestone, painted and gilded by Jean Malouel, Moses 6′ high. -served as a water source for the monastery, but water probably did not spout from the fountain because the Carthusian commitment to silence and prayer would have precluded anything that produced sound. -Well of Moses a fons vitae, a fountain of everlasting life. The blood of the crucified Christ symbolically flowed down over the grieving angels and Old Testament prophets, spilling into the well below, washing over Christ's prophetic predecessors and redeeming anyone who would drink water from the well. -Whereas the models for the Dijon chapel statues were the sculptured portals of French Gothic cathedrals, the inspiration for the Well of Moses may have come in part from contemporaneous mystery plays in which actors portraying prophets frequently delivered commentaries on events in Christ's life. -the horns on moses where from the mistranslations of the bible, It said "rays of light" but translated "horns that came out with rays of light", when translated from hebrew to latin -The six figures are much more realistically rendered than Gothic jamb statues, and the prophets have almost portrait like features and distinct individual personalities and costumes. -David is an elegantly garbed Gothic king, Moses an elderly horned prophet with a waist-length beard. Sluter's intense observation of natural appearance provided him with the information necessary to sculpt the prophets in minute detail.
